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DESCRIPTION
Program | BTEC Higher National Diploma in Business (Marketing) |
Unit Number and Title | Unit 15 Internet Marketing – Business solution |
QFC Level | Level 5 |
Introduction
In a highly digitised world today terms like e-commerce, e-business, internet marketing and digital marketing have become a reality of life. The product which has been taken for this task is smart phones. Today smart phones are one of the largest selling product categories through e-commerce channel. Further there is discussion on Internet marketing concepts like Search Engine Optimization, Paid Per Click Advertising and others.
Task 1
Provide a short marketing research report on the product’s market indicating key factors such as market size, market share, sales trends, customer expectations, sales channels, emerging markets, and so on. In this task you just need to conduct a secondary market research using secondary available data (e.g. published surveys and reports, online research communities, government information, census, data shared by professional bodies, white papers, and the like). Provide references to support your answers.
Product selected for this task is iPad which is a tablet PC manufactured and sold by Apple Inc. worldwide. Below table displays the overall share of iPad in the table market.
It is important to understand that in tablet PC market there are other companies as well. For example companies such as Samsung, Google, and Lenovo etc. are also a close competitor of Apples’ iPad. However iPad is world’s largest selling tablet PC. This can be understood on the basis of table displayed below:
Above table clearly indicates that how Apple has captured the market share of 36% by end of 2013 followed by Samsung. Apple can be mentioned as the pioneer in the field of tablet PC which was previously dormant. Apple completely revolutionised the tablet PC market after it launched iPad as a product. Today Apple’s 70-80% sales comes from the North American and European markets, this shows that there is tremendous scope of growth for countries in developing countries such as India etc. That is why Apple has changed its marketing strategy in Asian countries and has entered into tie-ups with online retailers to sell its product (Roberts & Zahay, 2012).
Identify the market data which you could not find in your secondary market research, and design a primary research to collect those market data using digital tools (e.g. online, mobile, etc.). You are needed to determine your sample; choose research methodology (e.g. survey, focus group, etc.), create your online questionnaire (e.g. in www.surveymonkey.com) pre-test and validate the questionnaire, and recommend a valid data analyse data method.
IPad has become one of the most used device across the globe. However its major users are college and school going students. Hence this task is focused on creating a questioner which will help in analysis of user base for iPad and what are their preferences. Following is the questionnaire, as displayed in the image below:
Thus on the basis of above mentioned questionnaire relevant data can be gathered. It was found that 70% of the college going students prefer surfing social networking websites on their iPad, where as 30% of the students use iPad for checking their assignments etc. Also, 40% of the respondent to the survey mentioned that given a chance they will upgrade to the next version of the iPad available in the market, whereas 60% were satisfied with their current iPad device.
Based on your overall understanding of the product’s market (achieved through subtasks 3.1 and 3.2), discuss the benefits of Internet/digital tools and techniques for relationship marketing management . You can address some key issues like loyalty, lower costs, easier targeting, and electronic customer relationship management in your discussion.
Based on the case study of Apple’s iPad it can be said that internet digital tools for relations marketing management has played critical role in its success. For example, all the Apple user have their dedicated online account on Apple’s website where they can register their product. In case of a situation where there is any issue with the product they can lodge their complaint with the company. If apple finds any issue with the product it often replaces the product with a new one. Such kind of tactics helps in improving the customer loyalty towards the brand. Also, from time to time Apple launches new product schemes which it communicates through online channels such as e-mail etc. It can be said that to a large extent digital tools have reduced the cost of company which it spends in maintaining its existing customer base. This has been a major advantage for the companies. That is why today more and more companies are focusing on improving their online relationship management with their existing customers, as it also helps them to upsell their products.
Task 2
2.1 Based on the Product you chose in Task 1, carry out the following two sub-tasks. You also need to present the outcome of this task during the lecture hours in week 12-14.
Produce an outline internet marketing plan for the products. Your plan should include the following sections: Environmental analysis; Competitors analysis; Channel analysis, SWOT analysis (examination of business strengths and weaknesses in online markets, and the opportunities and threats of online markets), and market segmentation by channel, users, etc.
Internet marketing plan for iPad:
Situational analysis:Currently Apple’s iPad is world’s largest selling tablet PC with more than 35%s share in the tablet market. It has been observed that over a period of time other competitors such as Google’s Nexus tablet and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab are catching up fast. Apple since launch of iPad has relied more on the sales from physical stores. Whereas its competitors have been aggressively tying up with online e-commerce websites to sell the product. This has helped them to gain a large customer base. That is why it is important for Apple to come up with a specific internet marketing plan which will help it to compete with other companies as well.
Competitor Analysis:Apple’s iPad main competitors are mentioned in the table below:
Figure1: Apple`s competitors
It can be clearly seen that Apple, Samsung, Asus are the top three largest tablet PC sellers in the world.
SWOT Analysis:
Strength Strong brand image Customer experience Good customer service Focus on research and innovation Leadership position in the tablet PC market | Weakness Product recalls Patent infringement Cost of device is too high Close software eco-system |
Opportunity Asian country such as India and China are yet to be tapped. It has huge user base which wants to experience iPad Falling sales of Laptops | Threat Cheap yet highly durable similar products being launched by Samsung, Google, Asus, Lenovo etc. Counterfeit products |
Overall it can be said that Apple has created a unique position in the market for iPad. However with growing competition from rival companies. Apple should focus to penetrate the market further with online sales channel. This will help it to restrict its operational budget for promotion, at the same time will enable it to gain more customer for its product.
Develop an online pay per click advertising
Online pay per click advertising for iPad can be prepared in the following way
Based on the above image it can be said that every time a user searches for a table PC. iPad should come up first in the search result as displayed above. For this key words such as tablet, PC, tablet PC, good tablets etc. should be purchased from search engines like Google. Hence every time user searches using these terms above advertisement should come up. This advertisement will have link to Apple’s website where the visitor can explore the product, and if interest can search for the re-seller and buy the product as well.
Conclusion
The above tasks help in understanding how important internet has become in not only our personal lives but also affecting the corporate world in a big way. Internet marketing and making a company’s presence felt on the internet space has become a very important factor in the marketing and advertising strategy of most global companies. Lastly market research is an important activity which all marketing practitioners should go to before undergoing any big or small marketing effort to understand what the need of the market is and what necessary actions can be taken.
